4000

Aggressive to me is midrange, like the Jaydees. The Kingbasses are too far ‘pingy’ for me. Which just goes to show that these descriptions can mean different things to different people. I love the sound of his Alembics, I think they’re by far the most musical of his basses. ‘Plain’ is the last description I’d use, but then from previous discussions I suspect we like very different sounds.

I could probably have dealt with that better than mine, which couldn’t support anything other than too-light strings without forward bow. 😂

Oh I know, but if the wood isn’t stable, the truss rod won’t fix it. The story goes, so far as I remember, that John bought a dodgy batch of wood sometime in the ‘80s, hence the issues some experienced. Others may be able to expand on this.

The problem with mine - and I understood all the dodgy ones - wasn’t the truss rod but a rogue batch of wood.

Every single commonly used description of bass sounds is subjective. Growl has no real more specific meaning than grunt; I’ve been involved in discussions before where growl obviously means different things to different people. In this thread “grunt” was used initially and then queried, not the other way round. Surely the easiest way of giving a definitive description of what makes a Jaydee stand out is providing an opportunity to listen to one. That’s going to be far more informative than trying to describe it; as we were describing a specific player using a specific bass and sound, it’s surely much easier to listen to that as an example. Once heard, you can then apply the word to that sound. Trying to explain that sound in words when you can actually listen to an example seems pointless. FWIW, having owned and played both Alembics and Jaydees, Jaydees are typically more aggressive IMO.

I don’t think it’s confusing at all, certainly no more than mid-growl.

Well he was using transistor Trace Elliot amps at the time and didn’t use any external distortion, just a delay. Distortion may be a factor in a ‘grunt’ sound but it’s not required, IMO. I’d say a Warwick Thumb has grunt. As I already said, to me it’s a particular kind of midrange. There are also distorted bass sounds that to me don’t have grunt. I personally wouldn’t say Billy Sheehan’s sound has grunt, but that has distortion. Again as I said previously, if you hear something making a grunting sound, to me it’s just the bass equivalent. I assume you know what a grunt is in terms of a sound made by a person or animal? https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/grunt

Well given we’re discussing Mark King’s Jaydee sound and describing it as having “grunt”, surely that’s the first place to look:

Or when the only groupies who turn up are actually grannies…..☹️

It probably means different things to different people but to me, it’s exactly what the word describes. If you imagine something or someone grunting, that’s pretty much it.😉 To try and clarify, I’d say a certain type of aggressive midrange.

Well I bought some TI flats earlier this year to try on my Rics. They were ok but not really my sound or feel, although I’m keeping them for the moment, just in case. You only ever need to buy one set! 😁Mine didn’t stay on long. I liked the general tension, which was low (obviously) but for me they seemed stiffer on the G, which is the opposite of what I prefer. After doing some comparison recordings using the same bass with various sets of strings, I didn’t feel they captured ‘my’ sound either and I could tell from the recordings how they were affecting my touch, although I’m sure that would come with time. I normally use either 40-100 or 40-95 Roto stainless. I imagine DRs would be not dissimilar but slightly lower tension, although more expensive, however from most reports they last quite a bit longer; I’ve never got round to trying them. Will do at some point, but I do love the sound of my Rotos and I’ve tried a lot of other strings. I also use these: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Rotosound-Nickel-Medium-Roundwound-Strings/dp/B002CVUNSO/ref=asc_df_B002CVUNSO/?tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=310810391039&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=4676544813900326067&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9046575&hvtargid=pla-351515495650&psc=1&th=1&psc=1 They're even lower tension than the TIs, sound and feel really nice (I prefer the balance of tension to the TIs and they’re very expressive strings) and cost peanuts. Maybe worth a shot at that price, although again they could be too much of a jump from what you’re using. They do a 40-100 too, but for some reason the 35-95 just seem to work better for me in this instance. Of course YMMV. Another option would be Newtone round core. I bought some and they’re nice strings, but for some reason I ran out of intonation adjustment on my old basses (the tolerances are close at the best of times) so couldn’t use them.

TI flats would likely be a bit of a shock after those. As CV states, in those gauges DRs may be your best bet based on all reports. Could you not just drop your gauges?

I always found his Jaydees to be far more aggressive-sounding than his other basses, although I love the musicality of the Alembics. The Statii - certainly the Kingbasses anyway - never sounded as good to me.

What gauge do you use?

What are these ‘groupies’ you speak of? 🤔 😂

That’s usually your best bet. I do wish I still had one, although as I mentioned I’d have done a bit of work to them. Neither cost an arm and a leg by current standards, although they weren’t cheap either. The ‘96 (new) I think cost me £999; I had to order it. The ‘91 (used) came without case and certificate- and indeed original back pickup, although I replaced that - and was around £1600.

Yeah, they’re notorious for having finish issues. The paint they used just wasn’t very stable, everything bled into it. Happened to both mine. The earlier ones had longer, more accurate headstocks and thinner necks, which mirrors the V63 construction by year, although contrary to other people’s experiences (maybe just because I’m very anal😂) I haven’t found the CSs and V63s to sound the same; all the V63s I owned/played seem to be more open, more airy, which I typically prefer. I think the change was around ‘97, maybe ‘98. I had a V63 with a shorter headstock and much thicker neck from ‘98; my ‘91 CS had the long headstock and the thinnest neck and the ‘96 also had the long headstock and a fractionally bulkier neck than the ‘91, but still half the size of the V63. Weirdly the ‘98 V63 I had was the lightest of the 3 by some margin, although it wasn’t particularly typical in that sense.

Well Chris Squire is my favourite bassist and I’ve had 2 x 4001CS basses, but I bought them because I think Chris’s Rick is possibly the most beautiful bass I’ve ever seen. He played other basses too but I had no real interest in buying any of them, and I certainly didn’t expect the CSs to make me sound like him. Obviously I love Rickenbackers (well, many of them) and to me they were just spectacularly beautiful versions of a bass I already love. Unfortunately the first, a ‘96, was the heaviest Ric I’ve owned and by then my back had gone, so it eventually went. My second, a ‘91, was lighter but was the worst-built Ric I’ve owned (although the neck was tremendous), so when I was short of cash that went too. Both sounded good, but not especially great. Neither sounded remotely as good, IMO, as the best of my many other Rics. Nowadays I’d have changed the pickups for Classic Amplification or similar and changed the pots etc, but then I didn’t know anything about all that, although I have to say that even acoustically they were both a bit on the nasal side (I blame the vermilion board as they both sounded very similar to each other and very different to the many other Rics I’ve owned and played).

I also think one person’s “timeless” is another person’s dated. I’d have said Tangerine Dream, speaking as a fan, but my partner thinks they sound like someone playing a stylophone, so I suspect I may not be completely objective.

Jon Anderson told a story that was, IIRC, essentially about some kids coming up with Yes records asking for autographs. He asked why they were listening to “this old music”. The reply was “it’s not old to us”. Ive been listening to loads of stuff over the past 18 months that’s from the late 60s and 70s and much of it doesn’t sound dated to me, because I’ve never heard it before and the production still sounds pretty fresh. Of course that may not have been the case say in the ‘80s. I struggled with early Yes production when I first heard it, early ‘80s, because then everything was all delays and reverbs and it was so dry. Now everything (well maybe not everything) that’s all delays and reverbs sounds dated, and early Yes sounds completely contemporary to me. It all goes round and round. I remember hearing a live ‘60s version of My Generation in a club maybe a decade or so ago and it sounded like it could have come out the day before.

And the more beer, the more beautiful……😉

Although understandable, it’s a bit of a bugger it only being on Facebook because I’m not…..

I thought for a minute you were referring to the Genesis gig - which I know you really enjoyed - so was a bit baffled. 😂 When I’ve seen Hackett previously the above were also some of my issues. The feel and sonics - not just the notes - are extremely important to me, and I just don’t feel his band pays enough attention to that. That’s their prerogative, obviously; maybe they’re not interested in being faithful. But I want it to be faithful, so for me it doesn’t really work as well as it could. And the wrong drummer for the material - in any band - is a complete no-no. Quite honestly, although I haven’t seen Hackett on this tour, there is no comparison between the last time I saw him and the recent Genesis gig, even with Phil how he is and the shortage of older material. The Genesis gig was light years better.

For us the acoustic thing wasn’t a conscious decision, it just kind of fell into place. However the nice thing is, based on our experience at least, that it seems to be far less polarising for the audience than many full band situations can be. Whatever the reason it’s certainly worked for us so far, fingers crossed.

It’s called the Bass Gallery. 😉😂